Carry On (Book 1)

Chapter 12:

Madison's pov

Today was the day! It was tryouts for all the freshmen and sophomores, which meant I had to be at the barn at an ungodly hour to prepare. I couldn't help but to be excited, tryouts are the greatest. Not only do I get to see my future teammates in action, but I also get a taste of competing again. For Olivia however, tryouts meant to suss out the competition and show off.

"You good? Now remember to keep him square at X" Olivia instructs as I mount Koda.

"I will" I sigh.

"Look at me" Olivia says, petting Koda's neck.

I glance at her in annoyance.

"This isn't just my reputation, this is yours, when you ride make responsible and calculated decisions. Nothing stupid" Olivia says, her eyes narrowing at me.

"Okay, I get the picture" I said in exasperation, just wanting to get away from the girl.

"And Maddy?" She calls as I begin walking away.

"What is it?" I halt Koda just before entering the warm up ring.

"Have fun, this is your moment to own that arena. You'll crush everyone, guaranteed. And if you don't-"

Olivia glances around, making sure no one was paying attention.

"-well if you don't, I'll still be proud of you" she says in a quieter voice.

"Thanks Liv!" I grin before urging Koda on.

It's moments like that where I really appreciated my sister. Below that competitiveness is a teddy bear. I almost snort at the thought of me telling Olivia that. She would kick my butt for sure.

Wow, the first week has been a rollercoaster ride. The race on Monday. Seeing Jack. Getting kicked out of class. Mom not finding out, which I had Olivia to thank for that. Then Ariel asked if I wanted to attend her first clinic, which I obviously said yes to! Now to finish off the week, I had tryouts. It was definitely a crazy time of the year for me.

I was thankful that Ariel could overlook my ride yesterday. We had been in the arena for over an hour and by the time I left, her observations left me confident. At times it had been a little hard for her to coach due to her limited dressage knowledge.

Before I started, I demonstrated certain moves on Koda so she knew what to look for. I had to admit, Ariel learns quickly which was a bonus. She helped me a ton. Afterwards, we gave Koda a bath before braiding him.

It was nice to finally hang out with an honest person, especially one not afraid of Olivia.

Koda shakes his head, as if saying it was showtime. I giggled and started doing a serpentine on him. Both Koda and I shared a love of competing. We lived for it. Sometimes we would get so deep into showing that I didn't take notice of my nonexistent social life. I didn't do it for the titles or the ribbons, but purely for the fun of it. There was something about the showing atmosphere that I loved. I don't usually get nervous, and even then it's minimal. After I competed for so long, the nerves went away.

With the slight movement of my leg, Koda happily picks up a ground covering trot. I shake away all remaining thoughts and focus. Once I complete the serpentine, I release another cue and Koda launches into a canter. After plenty of work, Koda's powerful haunches made every one if his movements dramatized.

I couldn't begin to imagine how beautiful he looked right now. When ever I'm at shows, spectators often complement his uphill movement and willingness to perform. That's one of the many reasons I used to convince my parents to buy him. Dad got over the fact that he was a 'normal horse' real quick when articles about my good performances started surfacing. Mom had been proud, happy that both of her daughters were now representing Willow Lane.

As I reach the end of the arena, I bring Koda back to a trot and start circling at C. Koda collects easily as I keep up his momentum. Once I swap diagonals and do the task again, I ask him to leg yield. We didn't need to know this but I always enjoyed changing things up a bit. I may need to know some of this for competitions later in the year, who knows?

"Madison?!" I begin to walk  Koda at the letter E when I hear Amelia call my name.

I could feel my sisters stare on me, she always watched my warm up and hated when I spoke to others. She wanted me to be ready and have no distractions like Amelia. The girl was probably the most confident, self loving person in my grade. Her blonde hair was swept back perfectly and she oozed of popularity. I still don't know if I like her or not, sometimes she can be a bit much. But other times she makes fair points, it depends on how her day is going.

"Hey Amelia" I smile, loosing Koda's reins so he can stretch out.

"You nervous?" She asks, walking her gelding next to mine.

"Not really, I'm excited to see how everyone goes" I shrug, petting Koda.

She eyes down competitors as she continues speaking "Parker is so ready, we've been training all summer, my coach says we're guaranteed a spot on the team. I'm not surprised though..."

And there's the over confidence again...

"He definitely looks more toned since last time I saw you two" I said, telling her what she wants to hear.

Amelia lowers her voice "I know right, and looking at everyone today... between you and me-"

"-it's like we're the only two riders that actually trained... like what's up with that? They're all train wrecks" Amelia adds, her eyes following all the freshman riders.

"I'm sure everyone is fine, they're probably nervous" I suggest, trying not to sound defensive.

Amelia snorts, her eyes stopping on Ariel who stood by the arena fence line, helping riders who asked for assistance.

"I doubt it, I think they're all getting to distracted by that new girl, even Jack. It makes me want to gag" Amelia says bitterly.

"Ariel? There's nothing wrong with her, she's just doing her job and trying to help" I said, not liking her tone.

"And what's that? Flirting? I'll have to see this magical horse whispering to believe it. Until then, she's nothing-" Amelia says, lifting her chin in some type of defiance.

"Anyway, I gotta run. Laters" she says before trotting away on her gelding, Parker.

Strange girl... I roll my eyes and get back my warm up. Koda and I had our dressage test soon and I wanted to give a good impression. Intermediate is the highest team I could be apart as a freshman, so that's what I was aiming for.

Koda and I were ready for this, I knew it, I just hoped Mr. Mallen thought so as well.

"We've got this boy"